Fine legal brains have looked for small, technical loopholes that Johnson might just have slithered through, but there is a clearer explanation. Even though the police knew that Johnson attended six get-togethers,
they only investigated two of them: the “ambushed-by-cake” birthday party and one other. By way of explanation, my colleague
Vikram Dodd reports that the police only looked at cases where evidence was of the “slam-dunk” variety, which suggests they were only interested if there were photos. But that is odd. Why not just ask Johnson, via those notorious questionnaires, if he was present? As Wagner tells me: “The absolute best slam-dunk evidence is an admission.” But it seems Johnson was never asked.
Recall that Johnson was
telling people a month ago that his first fine would be his last – it seems the
Met had kindly tipped him off – and you can see why people start talking of stitch-ups and the like. But you don’t have to resort to conspiracy theory. As Dodd writes, “the Met has painful experience of tangling with politicians and the powerful”: perhaps doing as little as possible seemed the safest course.